In Brief

Philippines: Cardinal Vidal gives an alarm-clock to the priests of his diocese

Philippine Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu, gave the priests of his diocese an alarm clock to induce them to preach shorter sermons. According to him, lengthy sermons “lead to catastrophe” for the faithful and to a “wasting of energy” for the priests.

Switzerland: an interreligious Christmas

It was not the three Magi who come to bow before the Child Jesus, at Porrentruy, but a priest, a pastor and an imam, at an interreligious Christmas celebration.

Mohamed Filali, from the Delemont mosque, said: “Islam has this in common with the other religions: it preaches tolerance (sic). Fr. Jean-Marie Nussbaume went further when he invited the faithful to “drop the barriers, the a priori and the prejudices” (re-sic). And pastor Yvan Bourquin topped him, declaring that this type of gathering would be more and more frequent in the future, “because we live in a society which is mixed”. (re-re-sic)

England: will the Church re-establish the Inquisition?

According to the British Daily Telegraph, the bishops, assisted by a jury of theologians, will direct new tribunals charged with hearing cases of heresy. They will hear cases of priests suspect in matters of doctrine, ritual or ceremonial. The members of the clergy who deny the doctrine of the Trinity or the Incarnation, those who preach atheistic doctrines from the pulpit will have to appear before these tribunals. Also those who do not wear appropriate liturgical vestments during religious services will be taken to task.

No, this is not a matter of the application of the upcoming Instruction on the Eucharist! These proposals come from a workgroup of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church, who want to undo their reputation of having clergy who believe “any and everything”.

Switzerland: A woman’s touch

The popular Catholic movement Pro Ecclesia had denounced the homily given by a laywoman during the pilgrimage of Catholic from Zurich, July 5, 2003, at the Abbey of Einsiedeln, in a letter of its central secretary Markus Carloni, addressed to the Congregation for the Clergy. Indeed, during this pilgrimage, the “theologianess” Regula Gruenenfelder preached even though several priests were present in the church.

The Congregation for the Clergy responded in October 2003, recalling the ban on laypeople preaching during Mass. In November Markus Carloni published the response of the Vatican in the columns of the Schweizerische katholische Wochenzeitung. What was the reaction of the German-speaking Swiss Bishops Conference? A communiqué of January 6 informs us that: “the affair has been over-inflated…the politics of denunciation is not helpful to the life of the Church in Switzerland… The directives mandated by the dioceses concerning preaching by male and female theologians remains in force as before; infractions of these directives will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis…” and discretely. Let’s make sure that Regula Gruenenfelder will still be able to preach to the priests!